Browsing by Author "Palmroos, Sarianna"

My purpose in this study was to critically examine global education that is carried out by civic organizations and linked with the objectives of the national school curriculum. The study was based on feminist postcolonial and poststructural theories. The previous studies have shown that despite the complexity of the historical and political perspectives included in globalization, in global education these perspectives are often ignored. This may lead to constricted content of global education, as the focus remains on learning about "the distant Others" and learning to appreciate "our" privileged position. The focus of my study was in the above-mentioned problematics of global education. The context of my study was a collaboration project connecting 5th and 6th graders from Finland and from Uganda. The project was carried out by development co-operation organizations Plan Finland and Plan Uganda. My aim in this study is to examine how the representation of Uganda and of other developing countries is constructed during the first collaboration year of the project and what it is like. My aim is also to examine what kind of differences are produced during the first collaboration year and how. In my study I applied a discourse analytical approach. I was involved in the project both as an employee and as a researcher. My study was limited to the first collaboration year of the two-year project. My research data mainly consisted of the observation data that I produced during the project, especially concerning the child rights lessons given by the child rights ambassadors from Plan Finland. According to my study, during the child rights lessons a subject position of Western privilege was constructed. From such position it was possible to criticize other cultures and groups of people. By categorizing the developing countries to countries of traditional culture where "they are still learning things" and where the prevailing way of thinking should be transformed by "us", a colonial difference was produced. The Western resources of interpretation concerning the developing countries defined the ways in which the developing countries were talked about and the ways in which the representation was constructed. For instance, the girls in the developing countries were categorized as victims of the hierarchical gender system. In order to achieve the goal of global equity in global education, I suggest that, "our" position as a subject of Western benevolence with the responsibility to help the underprivileged Other "the idea of the global responsibility" should be questioned. In the corresponding North-South school partnerships the questions of power should not be left in the shade of collaboration.